Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Stock Position Lifted by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 597,557 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 48,115 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Celanese were worth $41,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Celanese by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 288,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,997,000 after purchasing an additional 141,927 shares during the period. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $871,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Celanese by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 8,369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 1,817 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,774,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 514.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 114,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,900,000 after purchasing an additional 95,855 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of CE stock opened at $52.22 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $36.29 and a 1 year high of $158.60. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of -3.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.43 and its 200-day moving average is $63.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $48.00 price target (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Celanese from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.06.

Celanese Company Profile

Celanese Corporation, a chemical and specialty materials company, manufactures and sells high performance engineered polymers in the United States and internationally. It operates through Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain. The Engineered Materials segment develops, produces, and supplies specialty polymers for automotive and medical applications, as well as for use in industrial products and consumer electronics.